Porous Ni@Pt core-shell nanotube array electrocatalyst with high activity and stability for methanol oxidation.

Bimetallic core-shell nanostructures are emerging as more important materials than monometallic nanostructures, and have much more interesting potential applications in various fields, including catalysis and electronics. In this work, we demonstrate the facile synthesis of core-shell nanotube array catalysts consisting of Pt thin layers as the shells and Ni nanotubes as the cores. The porous Ni@Pt core-shell nanotube arrays were fabricated by ZnO nanorod-array template-assisted electrodeposition, and they represent a new class of nanostructures with a high electrochemically active surface area of 50.08 m(2)  (g Pt)(-1), which is close to the value of 59.44 m(2)  (g Pt)(-1) for commercial Pt/C catalysts. The porous Ni@Pt core-shell nanotube arrays also show markedly enhanced electrocatalytic activity and stability for methanol oxidation compared with the commercial Pt/C catalysts. The attractive performances exhibited by these prepared porous Ni@Pt core-shell nanotube arrays make them promising candidates as future high-performance catalysts for methanol electrooxidation. The facile method described herein is suitable for large-scale, low-cost production, and significantly lowers the Pt loading, and thus, the cost of the catalysts.